Luke Perry Remained Humble To The Very End, According To His Hometown Friends: ‘He Never Changed’

While he may have been thrust into the spotlight and dubbed a teen heartthrob at such a young age, the late Luke Perry always stuck to his roots.

As fans know, Perry hit it big when he landed the role of Dylan McKay on the hit show Beverly Hills, 90210. That show really put him on the map and launched him into superstardom, and from then on, he was recognized wherever he went. But despite gaining fame so quickly, friends who grew up with Perry in his hometown tell People that he never let the fame go to his head.

The actor grew up in Fredericktown, Ohio, and just two years ago, he stopped by his hometown and hit up Door 142, a popular restaurant in the downtown area. Rachel Mackall remembers Luke as someone who was just really low-key and down-to-earth every time he came back home to visit.

“He was usually with someone in his family. He loved his kids. He would talk about them nonstop. When he came to town, people wouldn’t treat him differently. He never changed, so no one ever had a reason to treat him like he had.”

Mackall says that Luke’s death has been devastating to both herself and to the community, and it has yet to really sink in that he will never be coming back to visit.

“He loved his life, his kids, his family. He never stopped being ‘hometown’ and we loved him for it,” she shares.

Beth Corba, who went to high school with the Riverdale star, also had nothing but good things to say about the actor. She said that Perry was like a brother to her and, unlike most of the other girls, she never had a crush on him. She hadn’t seen him for a few years, but remembers him as being both “adorable” and “fun.”

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“After he was a celebrity, he would come to the Tomato show (the town’s annual festival) and you could just stand there and just talk to him. Sometimes people would line up to talk with him and I’d say, ‘I need to let you go,’ and he would grab my hand and say, ‘No, stay here.'”

Corba added that Luke was the kind of guy who would do anything for anyone and, during his high school days, he was always a prankster who would joke around with people. In fact, he even acted as the school mascot, Freddie Bird.

Clearly, the people who grew up with Luke have really fond memories of him, and it’s safe to say that he will be greatly missed by so many.

As The Inquisitr shared yesterday, Perry passed away following a massive stroke that he suffered the week prior. According to reports, the actor never fully recovered from the initial stoke and, sadly, he passed away surrounded by family on Monday, March 4, in Burbank, California.